12/03/2025
Each year, the United Nations announces a theme for International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The annual theme provides a common focus on how society can work towards inclusivity and remove barriers for people with disabilities. This year’s theme is "Fostering disability-inclusive societies for advancing social progress".
While the UN provides the official international theme, individual countries, organizations, and community groups can also develop their own complementary themes or events to align with local priorities and contexts.
For example, we love the theme that our friends at the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto have chosen this year - "Resisting Ableism, Building Community and Hope for the dignity, rights, and well-being of persons with disabilities"!
Inspired by this year’s UN theme and our core values of fun, inclusion, community, inspiration, and empowerment, we declare "Access brings us Together" as StopGap’s complementary theme. It speaks to how we celebrate accessibility with joy, bringing people together to take collective action where everyone belongs. By sharing knowledge that empowers independence, we show what’s possible when communities unite.
May all of these themes and events being held around the world today inspire a collective understanding about the importance of accessibility and inclusion in driving positive social progress all over the world.
[Background image by Katie Rainbow via Pexels.com. StopGap Foundation added text and edited the yellow cutout from the original image]
